This research project examines how art became a tool of defiance against Nazism for Jewish artists, refugees and survivors. It seeks to deepen understanding of Jewish visual resistance against Nazism and reveal the evolution in these representations, highlighting Jewish artists’ impact on perceptions of the Holocaust and its perpetrators.
The project aims to: identify major tropes in Jewish visual art and their distinct characteristics compared to non-Jewish art; explore the ethical implications of depicting Nazism and the Holocaust; analyse the influence of such representations on anti-fascist sentiments in society; and trace the evolution of Nazi imagery in Jewish art from the 1930s to 1940s to reveal both continuities and shifts. The project also assesses the influence of early artworks on later depictions of perpetrators.
This research will culminate in the development of a visual database of all relevant artworks which will be publicly accessible, and the completion of a book manuscript entitled, Facing Perpetrators in Jewish Visual Art since the 1930s: Patterns, Ethics, Reception.
Funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
Contact: Diana I. Popescu, Honorary Research Fellow, Birkbeck Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London.
